Lady&#39;s garment



March 16, 1948. A. LICHT LADY S GARMENT Filed Feb. 17, 1945 A 9 ATTO R NEYS Patented Mar. 16, 1948 LADYS GARMENT Anna Lioht, New York, N. Y.,assignor to The French Look, Inc., Paterson, N. J., a corporation of NewJersey Application February 17, 1945, Serial No. 578,455

3 Claims. (01. 2-67) While the present invention in its broader aspectsis applicable to other ladies garments, it is illustratively shownembodied in a bathing suit.

Among the objects of the invention are to provide a self-contained ladysouter garment that obviates harness-like constriction of the bust andpermits freedom of movement and chest expansion without discomfort orstrain upon the garment and yet affords firm and truly effective bustsupport without the need for a brassire.

Another object is to provide a, unitary outer garment of the above type,which in its external appearance may have any suitable lines and whichaffords the support above noted, and which in use avoids the exposure toview of a brassiere or other undergarment or liner element.

In the accompanying drawings in which are shown one or more of variouspossible embodiments of the several features of the invention,

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a bathing suit embodiment of theinvention,

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the cup portion of the bathing suit of Fig. Iviewed from the inside,

Fig. 3 is a transverse sectional view on a larger scale taken on line3-3 of Fig. 2,

Fig. 4 is a view similar to Fig. 2 modification thereof,

Fig. 5 is a transverse sectional detail view taken on line 5-5 of Fig.4, and

Fig. 6 is a view similar to Figs. 2 and 4 of a further modification.

Referring now to the drawings, the bathing suit may be of any variousconventional forms and, as shown, comprises a single piece suitincluding the trunk element 35 unitary with the shirt element 36 made ofsuitable elastic fabric which may be rubberized if desired. The shirtelement includes the breast cups 39 shaped by radial darts 39 andconstituting unitary parts of the shirt and illustratively combined witha strap 3? about the neck. Each cup is framed by a stiffener brace 38 atthe lower rim thereof. To this end the brace 55 illustratively shown asan elongated very narrow curved loop of metal wire with its two arcuatelengths in the desired nested relation, substantially as shown in mycopending application Serial No. 503,181, filed September 21, 1943, andsince patented under No. 2,380,978, on August '7, 1945, and reissued onJuly 16, 1946, as Reissue Patent No. 22,771, is enclosed in a sheath 60whose inturned edges ll are stitched together at 42. Desirably the braceis stitched in framing relation to the lower rim of the cup by a line ofstitching 43 between the two wire lengths and by a further line ofstitching 44 at the inturned showing a edges. The sheath is alsosecurely attached at its ends as at 44' to the garment. To conceal theoutline of the brace when the bathing suit is wet, it is preferred toprovide a heavy cord covering C in superposed relation over the rim ofthe cup at the forward face thereof, which cord may, if desired, beattached to the garment by the same stitching as the brace.

No strap is required between the two braces 38 as the fabric of thegarment itself affords the desired connection and the advantageouselasticity between the inner upright portions of the braces. The bracesin the embodiment shown, afford excellent support without imposingconstriction or pressure which would be particularly objectionable to aswimmer.

Inthe embodiment of Fig. 4, the cup 45 has stitched about the lower rimthereof an' arcuate strip of fabric 46 stitched in place at 4'. at itssides and at 41' at its end, thereby forming an arcuate sheath orpocket. Within the sheath there is releasably enclosed the arcuate brace48, which may be similar to that of Fig. 2. The fabric is formed with atab '49 at one end having a suitable fastener 50, such as a glovefastener, a button hole or a hook element, cooperating with thecomplementary socket, button or eye fastener element 51 on the strip 46at the open end of the sheath, so as to confine the brace in placetherein. By this arrangement, it will be seen that the brace 48 may bereadily withdrawn when the unit is to be laundered and may be as readilyreplaced.

In the embodiment of Fig. 6, an arrangement is shown similar to that ofFig. 4 except that the strip 53 has a line of stitching 52 about theentire periphery thereof, so as permanently to confine the brace 54 inplace therein.

Any of the embodiments of Figs. 2, i, or 6 could be used in thebrassiere of my copending application above identified or in the bathingsuit or other embodiments above referred to.

While the invention has been shown specifically as applied to a bathingsuit, it will be understood that it could be incorporated in any ofvarious other types of ladies garments and particularly in sportgarments, such as playsuits, and in certain of its embodiments, it mightalso be applied to street dresses, hostess dresses, evening dresses andthe like.

As many changes could be made in the above article and many apparentlywidely different embodiments of this invention could be made withoutdeparting from the scope of the claims, it is intended that all mattercontained in the above 3 description or shown in the accompanyingdrawings shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limitingsense.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. A garment, comprising a bodice portion, of laterally stretchabletextile fabric, means maintaining said portion upright on the body, saidbodice including a pair of spaced cups wholly of textile and integraltherewith, and a pair of spaced stiffener braces framing the lower edgesof said cups, secured in place thereat, and yieldabiy connected by theintervening fabric.

2. A ladies bathing suit comprising a shirt portion of laterallystretchable fabric, including a pair of cups, means maintaining theshirt portion in place, a pair of spaced and covered stiffener bracesframing the lower rims of the cups, said braces having a line ofstitching securing the same at the lower rims of the cups, and anelement superposed over each brace and attached to the front of thegarment serving to conceal the stiffener brace from view.

3. A garment comprising a bodice portion, means maintaining said portionupright on the body, said bodice including a pair of spaced cups whollyof textile fabric and a pair of spaced arcuate stifiener braces framingthe lower edges of said cups and secured in place thereat, saidREFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 615,029 Lyons Nov. 29, 18981,012,406 Merkin Dec. 19, 1911 1,664,926 Imershein Apr. 3, 19281,792,384 Madsen Feb. 10, 1931 1,798,274 Pons Mar. 31, 1931 1,994,941Calder Mar. 19, 1935 2,015,151 Moitz Sept. 24, 1935 2,061,238 Klein Nov.17, 1936 2,370,852 Espinosa Mar. 6, 1945 2,380,978 Licht Aug. '7, 19452,388,535 Glucken Nov. 6, 1945 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date425,577 Great Britain Mar. 18, 1935 781,297 France Feb. 18, 1935 786,827France Sept. 10, 1935

